Freeport-area churches reviewing ties to Boy Scouts

FREEPORT — Most area church leaders seem committed to maintaining sponsorship since the Boy Scouts of America decided in late May to allow openly gay boys to participate in Scouting.

Dorothy Schneider

FREEPORT — Most area church leaders seem committed to maintaining sponsorship since the Boy Scouts of America decided in late May to allow openly gay boys to participate in Scouting.

Members of St. John United Church of Christ in Freeport are welcoming the change. The congregation, which houses Troop 4, is open and affirming to all, including the LGBT community.

“This will not impact our being a charter organization in any way,” said the Rev. Donnley Dutcher, St John’s pastor. “We want the troop to be welcoming.”

But some churches, including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic in Crystal Lake, have taken steps to sever ties with the Boy Scouts. The parish is in the Rockford Diocese.

In a letter conveying the decision, the Rev. Brian Grady — St. Elizabeth’s pastor — said it would be “not only unjust, but immoral” for straight boys to have to share tents on camping trips with gay Scouts.

In all, about 70 percent of the 116,000 Scout units in the United States are sponsored by religious organizations. The Roman Catholic Church is the third-largest Scout sponsor, serving about 273,000 youths.

In a statement this week, Rockford Bishop David Malloy said Catholics must maintain “moral behavior” outside of marriage. He highlighted that as a youth program, Scouting discourages “any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth.”

“This tenet of the Boy Scouts of America is not incompatible with the church’s teaching. At this time, the new standard adopted by the Boy Scouts of America does not seem to provide an obstacle to our continued sponsorship of those troops or of Scouting, as long as Catholic principles of morality are followed.”

In Rockford, Salvation Army leaders are reviewing their partnership with a Scout troop it has hosted for the past year.

“This just puts charter organizations in a difficult spot, and I don’t want to mess with the politics,” said Maj. Randy Hellstrom. “We’re trying to evaluate it. We’re a Christian organization, and that’s not going to change.”

Hellstrom said the final decision probably won’t be made until after his successor comes to The Salvation Army this month. Freeport’s Salvation Army does not sponsor a local troop.

To date, though, there’s not been the mass defection that some conservatives had predicted before the vote by the BSA’s National Council. That could change after the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting next week in Houston.

Baptist leaders say the agenda is likely to include a resolution encouraging SBC-affiliated churches to phase out their sponsorships of Scout units. Baptist churches sponsor Scout troops serving about 108,000 of the BSA’s 2.6 million youths.

Some liberal religious denominations welcomed the change of policy and want the Boy Scouts to go further by lifting the ban on gay adults serving as leaders.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has said it accepts the new youth policy and will not cut ties. The Mormons sponsor more Scout units than any other organization, serving about 430,000 boys.

The United Methodist Church, the second-largest sponsor (serving about 363,000 boys), has shied away from official endorsement or rejection of the policy change.

Some individual Methodist leaders have been critical, while the General Commission on United Methodist Men, which oversees the denomination’s youth programs, says it will continue to support Scouting.